Sunday, November 14, 2010

Hi all!Our project was about setting up a Data Repository. Here's a short summary about it!Concept of Version ControlIt is the system in which source code of the software is maintained using versions. Many developers can work on the same project and the source code can be "version-ed" with, for example, numbers, so that different "versions" of the code are maintained. This can tremendously boost productivity of a project.

Data Repositories with Client Server ModelThe data repositories we explored were based on the client server model. The repository (the central database of code) was stored on a server, and clients could connect to this server and download data/update data in the repository. So if I have to make some changes in the source code, I would connect to the repository, download the current, most recent version, make my changes, and "commit" my changes back in the repository, making my version now the "most recent".

Version Control Systems - CVS and SVNWe covered arguably the two most popular version control systems. CVS - Concurrent versions system, first launched in 1990, quickly gained popularity. It had, however, certain drawbacks, which led to the birth of SVN in 2000. SVN (Subversion) was meant to be a successor to the widely successful CVS, making up for its drawbacks as well. Nowadays, SVN is the most used system, with development of CVS now discontinued.

Softwares for our DemoWe chose VisualSVN Server for setting up an SVN server + Apache server for access over the network, and chose TortoiseSVN as the client side software.VisualSVN Server was the most easy to use, configure and manage, server for Windows. It automatically set up Apache for use with the SVN server, which meant access over the network became very easy. It also has a really good interface for managing repositories and users, making the whole process a breeze.TortoiseSVN is the industry leading software when it comes to client-side SVN solutions. Its not an application in it self, rather it integrates itself in Windows Shell. All operations are available through "context" or "right-click" menus within windows. This way it blends powerful functionality with the easiest-to-use methods for SVN, till date.Both softwares were free as well, which hit the final nail in the coffin, for our decision to use them.

ExperienceWorking on this project was a unique experience. The concept was totally new to us, but the more we read about it, the more we thought that its a critical element of software development these days and it makes life very easy for programmers, especially in the multi-programmer environment. We decided to try and get this message across through our presentation, and I hope we succeeded in that. I ended up using SVN for developing my Introduction to Programming Project this semester, and I hope others found it useful as well!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

After trying for so long , me and my partner Ayushi Aggarwal, finally got a chance to lead the lab session -11 . I was really excited as it was for the first time that I was leading a group .

PREPARATION - Saturday training session held on 30th October 2010.It went off really well and all the group leaders did a pretty good job in explaining their parts. Training session took 2 long hours, but I thoroughly enjoyed while it lasted. Had it been any longer it would have acted as a sedative and I would have gone into deep sleep.The best part was the photo editing by Nikita and Shreyasi.

One of the hurdles we faced was that we didn't have admin rights so we couldn't install softwares and I wasn't very clear about setting up an SVN server.

Finally the day arrived and I utilised our lunch break to clear some doubts about the SVN server, well thanks to my partner for that!!We decided to keep image editing and video editing part at the end as it would have helped in keeping my group members interested till the end of the lab.

We covered the following topics in our lab:-

a) Image editing tool-PhotoImpact X3:-As provided in the lab handout we inlcuded the basic tools like

d) Remote connection to a machine:- We taught how to establish remote connection in windows and in linux. We also gave the demo of remote connection with Teamviewer.

After having given the lecture , I asked my group if they had any queries. Surprisingly not even a single question was raised, which made me wonder if it was because that they understood everything or nothing at all? Whatever the reason may be , I had a really nice experience.

Hey guys, all those who use nero and face a problem of max data limit. here is a simple tweak .

How do I overburn a CD with Nero?

Start Nero

From the action-bar select File and select Preferences.
In the Preferences window, select Expert Features(1) and check the Enable overburn disc-at-once(2).
Choose a Maximum CD Length(3) and click OK(4) (*82:59:59 is the maximum value I suggest, but as you can see from the screen capture above I have set mine significantly higher. The reason is because I frequently use 99min 850 MB CD media).

For a more accurate test you can use a nero tool called nero speed test to see how much a specific CD is capable of being overburned . get it here

From the action-bar select File and select Write CD.

A window will appear when you have exceeded expected length, click OK to start the overburn copy.

Remember to set disk to burn Disc at Once, you cannot overburn in Track at Once Mode.

Hey guys , its me Abhimanyu again . I would be covering on how to modify exe files in this blog.

So yea here it is

How to modify *.exe files

1) Don't try to modify a prog by editing his source in a dissasembler.Why?
Cause that's for programmers and assembly experts only.

try to view it in hex you'll only get tons of crap you don't understand.
First off, you need Resource Hacker(last version). It's a resource editor-
very easy to use, You can download it at h**p://www.users.on.net/johnson/resourcehacker/

2) Unzip the archive, and run ResHacker.exe. You can check out the help file too

3) You will see that the interface is simple and clean. Go to the menu FileOpen or press Ctrl+O to open a file. Browse your way to the file you would like to edit. You can edit *.exe, *.dll, *.ocx, *.scr and *.cpl files, but this tutorial is to teach you how to edit *.exe files, so open one.

4) In the left side of the screen a list of sections will appear.
The most common sections are
-String table;
-RCData;
-Dialog;
-Cursor group;
-Bitmap;
-WAV.
*Icon: You can wiew and change the icon(s) of the program by double-clicking the icon section,chossing the icon, right-clicking on it an pressing "replace resource". After that you can choose the icon you want to replace the original with.
*String table: a bunch of crap, useful sometimes, basic programming knowladge needed.
*RCData: Here the real hacking begins. Modify window titles, buttons, text, and lots more!
*Dialog:Here you can modify the messages or dialogs that appear in a program. Don't forget to press "Compile" when you're done!
*Cursor group: Change the mouse cursors used in the program just like you would change the icon.
*Bitmap: View or change images in the programs easy!
*WAV:Change the sounds in the prog. with your own.

5) In the RCData,Dialog,Menu and String table sections you can do a lot of changes. You can modify or translate the text change links, change buttons, etc.

TIP: To change a window title, search for something like: CAPTION "edit this".
TIP: After all operations press the "Compile Script" button, and when you're done editing save, your work @ FileSave(Save as).
TIP: When you save a file,the original file will be backed up by default and renamed to Name_original and the saved file will have the normal name of the changed prog.
TIP: Sometimes you may get a message like: "This program has a non-standard resource layout... it has probably been compressed with an .EXE compressor." That means that Resource Hacker can't modify it because of it's structure.

Hi again guys, this is me abhimanyu again , i am sorry i have to use Akshit's account because due to some reason none of my email and blog accounts have been able to accept the invitation.

I thought i will cover basics about spyware .I have also provided some spyware removal tool links this time . so here it goes

There are a lot of PC users that know little about "Spyware", "Mal-ware", "hijackers", "Dialers" & many more. This will help you avoid pop-ups, spammers and all those baddies.

What is spy-ware?
Spy-ware is Internet jargon for Advertising Supported software (Ad-ware). It is a way for shareware authors to make money from a product, other than by selling it to the users. There are several large media companies that offer them to place banner ads in their products in exchange for a portion of the revenue from banner sales. This way, you don't have to pay for the software and the developers are still getting paid. If you find the banners annoying, there is usually an option to remove them, by paying the regular licensing fee.

How to check if a program has spyware?
The is this Little site that keeps a database of programs that are known to install spyware.

Check Here: http://www.spywareguide.com/product_search.php

If you would like to block pop-ups (IE Pop-ups).
There tons of different types out there, but these are the 2 best, i think.

Try: Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com/) This program is Free
Try: AdMuncher (http://www.admuncher.com) This program is Shareware

If you want to remove the "spyware" try these.
Try: Lavasoft Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/) This program is Free
Info: Ad-aware is a multi spyware removal utility, that scans your memory, registry and hard drives for known spyware components and lets you remove them. The included backup-manager lets you reinstall a backup, offers and multi language support.

Try: Spybot-S&D (http://www.safer-networking.org/) This program is Free
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer. Blocks ActiveX downloads, tracking cookies and other threats. Over 10,000 detection files and entries. Provides detailed information about found problems.

Try: BPS Spyware and Adware Remover (http://www.bulletproofsoft.com/spyware-remover.html) This program is Shareware
Info: Adware, spyware, trackware and big brotherware removal utility with multi-language support. It scans your memory, registry and drives for known spyware and lets you remove them. Displays a list and lets you select the items you'd like to remove.

Try: Spy Sweeper v2.2 (http://www.webroot.com/wb/products/spysweeper/index.php) This program is Shareware
Info: Detects and removes spyware of different kinds (dialers, loggers, trojans, user tracks) from your computer.
The best scanner out there, and updated all the time.

Try: HijackThis 1.97.7 (http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html) This program is Freeware
Info: HijackThis is a tool, that lists all installed browser add-on, buttons, startup items and allows you to inspect them, and optionally remove selected items.

If you would like to prevent "spyware" being install.
Try: SpywareBlaster 2.6.1 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareBlaster doesn`t scan and clean for so-called spyware, but prevents it from being installed in the first place. It achieves this by disabling the CLSIDs of popular spyware ActiveX controls, and also prevents the installation of any of them via a webpage.

Try: SpywareGuard 2.2 (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html) This program is Free
Info: SpywareGuard provides a real-time protection solution against so-called spyware. It works similar to an anti-virus program, by scanning EXE and CAB files on access and alerting you if known spyware is detected.

Try: XP-AntiSpy (http://www.xp-antispy.org/) This program is Free
Info: XP-AntiSpy is a small utility to quickly disable some built-in update and authentication features in WindowsXP that may rise security or privacy concerns in some people.

Try: SpySites (http://camtech2000.net/Pages/SpySites_Prog...ml#SpySitesFree) This program is Free
Info: SpySites allows you to manage the Internet Explorer Restricted Zone settings and easily add entries from a database of 1500+ sites that are known to use advertising tracking methods or attempt to install third party software.

If you would like more Information about "spyware".
Check these sites.
http://www.spychecker.com/
http://www.spywareguide.com/
http://www.cexx.org/adware.htm
http://www.theinfomaniac.net/infomaniac/co...rsSpyware.shtml
http://www.thiefware.com/links/
http://simplythebest.net/info/spyware.html

Usefull tools...
Try: Stop Windows Messenger Spam 1.10 (http://www.jester2k.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/j...r2ksoftware.htm) This program is Free
Info: "Stop Windows Messenger Spam" stops this Service from running and halts the spammers ability to send you these messages.

Free Virus Scan
Scan for spyware, malware and keyloggers in addition to viruses, worms and trojans. New threats and annoyances are created faster than any individual can keep up with.
http://defender.veloz.com// - 15k

Finding . is a Click Away at 2020Search.com
Having trouble finding what you re looking for on: .? 2020Search will instantly provide you with the result you re looking for by drawing on some of the best search engines the Internet has to offer. Your result is a click away!
http://www.2020search.com// - 43k

What is a Proxy Server?
A proxy server is a kind of buffer between your computer and the Internet resources you are accessing. The data you request come to the proxy first, and only then it transmits the data to you. I know many are looking for IP Maskers or Scramblers, but honestly, it aint real easy for the simple fact that any website that you visit needs your IP to send the info packets too. If its scrambled, you will get alot of errors and crazy redirects :P My solution? Read on........... for a good list of Proxy servers try here&gt;&gt; http://www.multiproxy.org/

Why do I need to use proxy servers?
Transfer speed improvement. Proxy servers accumulate and save files that are most often requested by thousands of Internet users in a special database, called “cache”. Therefore, proxy servers are able to increase the speed of your connection to the Internet. The cache of a proxy server may already contain information you need by the time of your request, making it possible for the proxy to deliver it immediately.
Security and privacy. Anonymous proxy servers that hide your IP address thereby saving you from vulnerabilities concerned with it.
Sometimes you may encounter problems while accessing to web server when server administrator restricted access from your IP or even from wide IP range (for example restricting access from certain countries or geographical regions). So you try to access those pages using an anonymous proxy server.

What is a public proxy server?
It is a proxy server which is free and open for everybody on the Internet. Unfortunately most of them are not anonymous.
Free service trying to provide list of public HTTP proxy servers. Usually provide small list of proxies with low percent of functioning servers due to hosting restrictions on CPU time (they simply can't allow themselves to check many proxies every second especially in parallel).

The Solution?
When using an anonymous proxy server you don’t give a anybody chance to find out your IP address to use it in their own interests. ;) If there is a need to make an (inner) proxy connect to the outside world via another (outer) proxy server, you can use the same environment variables as are used to redirect clients to the proxy to make inner proxy use the outer one:
http_proxy
ftp_proxy
gopher_proxy
wais_proxy
E.g. your (inner) proxy server's startup script could look like this:
#!/bin/sh
http_proxy=http://outer.proxy.server:8082/
export http_proxy
/usr/etc/httpd -r /etc/inner-proxy.conf -p 8081

This is a little ugly, so there are also the following directives in the configuration file:
http_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
ftp_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
gopher_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
wais_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/

What is a Proxy Server?
A proxy server is a kind of buffer between your computer and the Internet resources you are accessing. The data you request come to the proxy first, and only then it transmits the data to you. I know many are looking for IP Maskers or Scramblers, but honestly, it aint real easy for the simple fact that any website that you visit needs your IP to send the info packets too. If its scrambled, you will get alot of errors and crazy redirects :P My solution? Read on........... for a good list of Proxy servers try here>> http://www.multiproxy.org/

Why do I need to use proxy servers?
Transfer speed improvement. Proxy servers accumulate and save files that are most often requested by thousands of Internet users in a special database, called “cache”. Therefore, proxy servers are able to increase the speed of your connection to the Internet. The cache of a proxy server may already contain information you need by the time of your request, making it possible for the proxy to deliver it immediately.
Security and privacy. Anonymous proxy servers that hide your IP address thereby saving you from vulnerabilities concerned with it.
Sometimes you may encounter problems while accessing to web server when server administrator restricted access from your IP or even from wide IP range (for example restricting access from certain countries or geographical regions). So you try to access those pages using an anonymous proxy server.

What is a public proxy server?
It is a proxy server which is free and open for everybody on the Internet. Unfortunately most of them are not anonymous.
Free service trying to provide list of public HTTP proxy servers. Usually provide small list of proxies with low percent of functioning servers due to hosting restrictions on CPU time (they simply can't allow themselves to check many proxies every second especially in parallel).

The Solution?
When using an anonymous proxy server you don’t give a anybody chance to find out your IP address to use it in their own interests. ;) If there is a need to make an (inner) proxy connect to the outside world via another (outer) proxy server, you can use the same environment variables as are used to redirect clients to the proxy to make inner proxy use the outer one:
http_proxy
ftp_proxy
gopher_proxy
wais_proxy
E.g. your (inner) proxy server's startup script could look like this:
#!/bin/sh
http_proxy=http://outer.proxy.server:8082/
export http_proxy
/usr/etc/httpd -r /etc/inner-proxy.conf -p 8081

This is a little ugly, so there are also the following directives in the configuration file:
http_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
ftp_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
gopher_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/
wais_proxy http://outer.proxy.server/

Hi everyone. This is me Abhimanyu again . I thought about writing of tearing firewalls apart.

A firewall is basically something that protects the network from the Internet. It is derived from the concept of firewalls used in vehicles which is a barrier made of fire resistant material protecting the vehicle in case of fire. Anyway a firewall is best described as a software or hardware or both Hardware and Software packet filter that allows only selected packets to pass through from the Internet to your private internal network. A firewall is a system or a group of systems which guard a trusted network( The Internal Private Network from the untrusted network (the Internet.) To understand how a firewall works, firstly we need to understand how exactly data is transferred on the Internet. NOTE: The following is a very weird, short and incomplete description of the TCP\IP protocol, I have just given a general idea of the whole data transmission process so that everyone can understand firewalls. The TCP\IP suite is responsible for successful transfer of data across a network both the Internet and the Intranet. The TCP\IP suite is a collection of protocols which are inter-related and interdependent and act as a set of rules according to which data is transferred across the network. A protocol can be defined as a language or a standard which is followed while transfer of data takes place. Lets go through a brief explanation of how data is transferred across a network following the various components of the TCP\IP suite. The whole process of data transmission begins when a user starts up an Internet application like the email client or a FTP client. The user types an email in his client and in this way provides data to be transferred. The email client is said to be a part of the application layer of the TCP\IP stack. Now this application layer (email client) provides data (the email itself) which has to be transferred to the Transmission control protocol or TCP which constitutes the Transfer Layer of TCP\IP. TCP breaks down the data i.e. the email into smaller chunks called packets and hands over the responsibility to the Internet Protocol or IP which forms the invisible network layer. This Internet Protocol adds some various info to each packet to ensure that the packet knows for which computer it is meant for and which port or application it is going to meet and from where it has come. An IP datagram contains: 1. A header which contains the Source and Destination IP, Time to live info and also the protocol used. There is also a header checksum present. 2. Remaining part contains the data to be transferred. You do not need to understand all this in detail but just remember that TCP breaks data into smaller packets and IP adds the source and destination IP's to the packets. When the data reaches the other server IP hands the packets to TCP again which re assembles the packets. Port numbers are also used to ensure that the packets know to which application it need to go to. So, basically we can conclude that a successful transmission of data across a network relies on the source and destination IP and also the ports. A firewall too relies on the source and destination IP and also the ports to control the packet transfer between the untrusted network and the trusted network. Firewalls can be classified into 3 types: 1. Packet Filter Firewalls 2. Application proxy Firewalls 3. Packet Inspection Firewalls Packet Filter Firewalls They are the earliest and the most criticized firewalls, which nowadays are not easily found. They are usually Hardware based i.e. Router Based (a router is a piece of device which connects two networks together.) Whenever a Packet Filter Firewall receives a packet for permission to pass through, it compares the header information i.e. the source and destination IP address, and port number with a table of predefined access control rules If the header information matches, then the packet is allowed to pass else the packet is dropped or terminated. They are not popular due to the fact that they allow direct contact between the untrusted system and the trusted private system. To understand such firewalls lets take the example of the secretary that sits in your office. This kind of secretary allows only those people who have an appointment to pass but if you convince her that her boss wants to meet her then she would allow you to pass. Such Firewalls can be fooled by using techniques like IP Spoofing in which we can change the source IP such that the firewall thinks that the packet has come from a trusted system which is among the list of systems which have access through the firewall. Application proxy Firewalls The shortcomings of the packet filter firewalls are addressed by the new type of firewalls developed by the DARPA. It was widely believed that the earlier type of firewalls were not secure enough as they allowed the untrusted systems to have a direct connection with the trusted systems. This problem was solved with the use of Proxy servers as firewalls. A proxy server which is used as a firewall are called application proxy servers. This kind of a proxy firewall examines what application or service (running on ports) a packet is meant for and if that particular service is available only then is the packet allowed to pass through and if the service is unavailable then the packet is discarded or dropped by the firewall. Once this is done, the firewall extracts the data and delivers it to the appropriate service. There is not direct connection between the untrusted systems with the trusted systems as the original data sent by the untrusted system is dropped by the firewall and it personally delivers the data. Let's again take the example of a secretary. Such a secretary would take a gift or something else for you only if you are available in the office and it would not allow the visitor to deliver the thing but would personally deliver it to you. Although they are somewhat slower, they are much more secure as they do not allow a direct contact between an untrusted network and a trusted network. Packet Inspection Firewalls It can be also known as an extension of the Packet Filter Firewall. It not only verifies the source and destination IP's and ports, it also takes into consideration or verifies that content of the data before passing it through. There are two ways in which this kind of a firewall verifies the data to be passed: State and Session. In case of state inspection, an incoming packet is allowed to pass through only if there is a matching outward bound request for this packet. This means that the incoming packet is allowed to pass through only if the trusted server had requested for it or had sent an invitation for it. In case of session filtering, the data of the incoming is not verified, but instead the network activity is traced and once a trusted system ends the session, no further packets from that system pertaining to that session are allowed to pass through. This protects against IP spoofing to a certain extend. Such firewalls can also be configured beforehand to act according to pre defined rules when it is attacked. It can also be configured to disconnect from the Internet in case of an attack. All along you will come across many Firewalls on various systems, basically a firewall can be established or setup in two ways: 1. Dual-homed gateway 2. Demilitarized zone (DMZ) In a dual homed gateway firewall, there is a single firewall with 2 connections, one for the trusted network and the other for the untrusted network. In the case of a Demilitarized Firewall or a DMZ there are two firewalls, each with two connections, but there is a slight difference in the case of a DMZ setup. In the case of a DMZ setup, there are two firewalls, the first having two connections, one leading to the untrusted network and the other leading to the host systems like the email server or the FTP server etc. These host systems can be accessed from the untrusted network. These host systems are connected with the internal private trusted systems through another firewall. Thus there is no direct contact between the untrusted network and the trusted internal network. The area or region between the two firewalls is termed as the demilitarized zone. In the case of a Dual Homed Gateway the untrusted network is connected to the host systems (email and FTP servers etc) through a firewall and these host systems are connected to the internal private network. There is no second firewall between the host systems and the internal private trusted network. The basic structure of the DMZ setup declares it to be a more secure system as even if an attacker gets through the first firewall, he just reaches the host systems, while the internal network is protected by another firewall. Do Firewalls provide enough Security for my Network? The answer is a simple no. There is no such thing that a firewall is enough to fulfill or satisfy all your security concerns. Yes it does protect the trusted systems from the untrusted ones, but they are definitely not enough for all your security needs. We need to protect our systems to secure the company data. The most common methods used to break into networks are brute force password cracking and social engineering. A firewall in no way can prevent such occurrences. There are other ways in which attackers can steal or destroy company data. Phone Tapping and the use of spy gadgets has become a common occurance.Although providing safety to the network to a large extend, a firewall is still not able to protect the company data from Viruses and Trojans, although some firewalls do provide for scanning everything being downloaded, the rate at which new HTML, Java and other viruses are propping up, it is becoming very difficult for firewalls to detect all viruses. Anyway firewalls provide no physical protection to the networks. It also provides no protection from fire, tornados etc.Yet another shortcoming is the fact that if the attacker is able to break into a trusted system which is provided access by the firewall, then he can easily gain access to the data at your network, as the firewall will think that he is actually the trusted party.